Chris and I are pretty certain that, when it comes to juggling two churches with kids, our home life will be the easy part. The big struggle is going to be deciding which church to attend on Sundays. Which church our children will commune in and which traditions they will grow up with is a frequent topic of conversation for us.
I do think our home life will be the easiest to figure out. Chris and I have similar ways of incorporating our faith into our everyday lives. For example, our prayer corners are similar. He developed a love for icons before we became friends, so his prayer corner looks a lot like mine. If we homeschool, which is what we both want, I know that we will teach our children respect for both the Eastern and Western saints and traditions. At this point we're both pretty sure we won't convert to the other's church, so we'll also be exposing our children to the feasts and fasts of both churches. This can only work if they are firmly grounded in one and if both Chris and I are faithfully attending and prayerfully observing our own.
Chris is concerned because I have problems with points of Catholic theology and practice, and I understand where he is coming from. He doesn't want me teaching our children to disrespect his church. I don't want that, either, but some days I can get very upset during Mass. This is my main focus right now -- how to accept the Roman Catholic Church as valid and not empty or heretical. It's horribly prideful for me to say that millions of Catholics are wrong, but my brain can't quite wrap around two different churches being God's Church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. I'm sure God can do it, but I don't understand it.
The division of our churches is a horrible tragedy, yet somehow I'm sure God is in it, or in us. That's my fervent hope. For now we'll keep living our faith in unity and maybe try not to talk about theology so much.
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4 comments:
Amber, you two have already made such progress. I really believe it can work. I'm praying for you, and I'm grateful that you've shared this journey with me.
In other news, I had no idea you two wanted to homeschool. That's awesome! That makes me want to figure out a way to stay in NC even more, if we can be homeschool buddies :)
Oh, please stay in NC! That would make me so happy! In my perfect world Chris and I baptize our kids Orthodox and you and Chris get to be the godparents.
Where in NC, if I may ask?
I'm in Raleigh, she's in Durham. Also, I haven't been able to figure out how to set up email notifications on my comments, so please forgive me for being so late to reply.
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